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Book Reviews

The Aloha Shirt

Spirit of the Islands

Palm trees stand among tropical grass shacks. Pineapples, sugarcane, and a lone star fish are patterned next to an outrigger canoe and a warrior. Bungalows and huts are bordered by groves of palm trees. Coconut buttons clasp the Hawaiian motifs of the Aloha shirts. Bing Crosby wore them as well as Arthur Godfrey, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Walt Disney.

“In a sense, Aloha shirts put Hawaii on the map,” says fabric designer “Keoni” Meigs, one of the many flamboyant designers in the Golden Age of Aloha shirts from the 1930s through the 1950s.